If Jones was sincere when he testified about having confidence in moving the Operation Fearless managers to Phoenix, why the move to transfer Zapor to Newark?

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

The ATF supervisor, who oversaw the “Operation Fearless” Milwaukee storefront fiasco before being transferred to Phoenix is retiring, the Journal Sentinel reported Tuesday. Bernard “B.J.” Zapor opted to leave the bureau rather than accept reassignment to head the Newark office, the story reports.

Screenshot/House Oversight Committee video

That’s the culmination of a series of “musical chairs” personnel moves involving Zapor that, per a whistleblower source, have been unwarranted, needlessly expensive, and ultimately, politically protective of management.

"Why would you put him in charge of an office that so clearly needs good leadership?" Grassley asked then-Acting Director B. Todd Jones in writing. Jones punted, citing the federal Privacy Act as justification not to answer Grassley’s questions.

"I can state I am confident that Mr. Zapor is well qualified to provide strong and effective leadership in Phoenix," Jones wrote back.

If that was the case, the decision to move Zapor to Newark makes little sense, except when placed in the context of information shared with Gun Rights Examiner and partially corroborated by the news account of his retirement.

“Zapor has strong connections to the Phoenix area,” the Journal Sentinel reports. “That is the office where he began as an agent, and he has owned property in the area. Sources said the move was a demotion, but it also allowed Zapor to finish his career in the area he planned to retire, saving him the cost of the move.”

Zapor had made no secret of his personal reasons for wanting to get and keep the Phoenix assignment, this column’s source agrees. But last week, the source alleges, management pressured him to retire in July, mere months after Jones had told Rep. Jason Chaffetz, under oath in a House Oversight Committee hearing, that the decision to entrust Phoenix to Zapor was “based on performance” [see embedded hearing video, above]. The informed opinion is that Jones has been under pressure to hold somebody accountable for Milwaukee, and came to realize that the move he’d expressed “total confidence” in to Congress just wouldn’t cut it.

If an attempt to force Zapor’s retirement was made, as alleged, punishing an employee twice for one “violation” would have proven problematic due to ATF disciplinary policies, and could have subjected the Bureau to an employee lawsuit. Having that thrown back at them is what prompted management to offer the Newark assignment instead of forced retirement, the source maintains. Per information the source finds credible, management counted on that offer stymieing any threat of a "double jeopardy" legal response. At the same time, management had good reason to believe the Newark offer would result in voluntary retirement by an employee who had strong personal incentives to turn down an undesired lateral transfer.

Atteberry was sent to headquarters as a deputy assistant director when Zapor was sent to Phoenix as the SAC, the source states, further claiming the government moved them with all that entails, including substantial expenses involving real property as well as relocation. Now, in less than a year since putting Zapor in the Phoenix slot and vigorously defending that move on multiple occasions, management has created a situation inducing him to leave and putting Atteberry right back into the slot they moved him from.

Aside from raising questions about continuity of effective management, this also makes it fair to ask if Director Jones answered based on his best knowledge at the time when asked about the advisability of putting the Operation Fearless guy in charge of the Operation Fast and Furious office. Not that an answer will be forthcoming. The “retirement,” along with a Privacy Act fallback, effectively stymies any congressional inquiries into personnel decisions, so all we’re left with are assurances from the top brass that all is well and they've got everything under control.

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David Codrea is a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He is a field editor for GUNS Magazine, and a blogger at The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance. Email him at dcodreaAThotmailDOTcom.